Cannabis bags. Photo: Shutterstock Four members of a drug smuggling group involved in an attempt to bring cannabis worth an estimated £13.8 million into the UK through Birmingham Airport have been sentenced to prison.
The group was investigated by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) after Border Force officers discovered hundreds of kilos of cannabis hidden in suitcases arriving at Birmingham Airport in August 2024.
The couriers had travelled from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on the same flights. In total, 22 suitcases were seized, containing around 460 kilos of cannabis.
The court heard that each courier had two suitcases, with each bag containing approximately 20 kilos of cannabis. The luggage was so heavy that the couriers had to pay excess baggage charges at Bangkok Airport before checking it into the hold.
The cannabis had been vacuum-packed and covered with a thin layer of clothing. Eight of the suitcases also contained Apple AirTag trackers, which NCA investigators linked to the same Apple ID account.
Border Force officers became suspicious after connecting the seizures with other passengers travelling into Birmingham. Officers then fully staffed the airport's customs green channel for passengers with nothing to declare, where the cannabis was discovered.
One courier had also received instructions to meet a contact after arriving in the UK and was told not to leave the airport until that person had departed with the luggage.
At Birmingham Crown Court on September 21, 2026, Bradley Lloyd, 27, was sentenced to four years in prison. Lewis Ross, 35, and Nathan Vitorino, 26, each received two years and eight months, while Carsten Kyei, 21, was sentenced to two and a half years.
Kyei and Vitorino were convicted following a three-week trial that concluded in May. Ross and Lloyd changed their pleas to guilty during the same trial.
Seven other people connected to the case are due to be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on October 22.
The NCA said cannabis smuggling by air into the UK has increased sharply. In 2024, 801 people were arrested for attempting to smuggle cannabis into the country by plane, a 464% increase from 2023. The figure rose to 976 in 2025, while 600 air passenger couriers had already been arrested between January and June 2026.
NCA senior investigating officer Paul Boniface said the sentences showed that people recruited to carry drugs could face serious consequences.
Border Force said it was continuing to work with UK and overseas law enforcement agencies to target drug smuggling networks.
The latest sentences come alongside a new NCA social media campaign aimed at warning young people about the risks of carrying cannabis from Thailand to the UK for criminal groups. The campaign is running on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube and directs people to Crimestoppers for information and anonymous reporting.